The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)Author(s): Sue HarrisSource: Mathematics in School, Vol. 23, No. 5 (Nov., 1994), pp. 34-35Published by: The Mathematical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30215116 .

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THE

Third nte

arematics

AND

science Stu (TIMSS)

by Sue Harris National Foundation for Educational Research

A large-scale international study of teaching and learning in mathematics and science is about to move into its second phase. The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) involves more than 50 different countries: every country in the European Community as well as USA and Japan. The study is being organised in England by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).

The first phase was concerned with the development and trialling of internationally-agreed versions of the tests and questionnaires, so that the same versions would be used by every country involved in the study. The second phase will involve the administration of the tests in schools and reporting on the data collected.

The study focuses on the teaching and learning of mathematics and science with nine year-olds (Years 4 and 5) and 13 year-olds (Years 8 and 9). Its main aims are to collect information about:

* pupils' knowledge and understanding of mathemat- ics and science

a pupils' attitudes to these subjects and their learning experiences

a teaching styles and subject curricula.

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Schools' involvement Invitations to schools to take part in the main survey are being sent out in the autumn term 1994, with the actual tests being administered in schools in spring 1995, at the same time as in other countries. A total of 300 randomly selected schools will be contacted: 150 with nine year-old pupils, and 150 with 13 year- old pupils. It is always important to obtain a good response rate from schools, and this is especially true of TIMSS if we are to form an accurate picture of the situation in schools in England.

Schools that agree to take part in the study will be asked to arrange for the administration of the tests to the appropriate sample of pupils. Each pupil will complete:

* a mathematics test a science test

* a short questionnaire.

Teachers will not be asked to mark the tests -- this will be done by NFER, although details of individual pupils' performance on the tests will be sent back to the schools.

Pupils' mathematics and science teachers will be asked to complete a questionnaire concerning their teaching and learning practices and we shall ask for a small amount of background information on each school, covering details such as the total number of

Mathematics in School, November 1994

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pupils and teachers in the school. All the information collected during the survey will be completely confi- dential - there won't be any league tables or comparisons of the results in different schools, rather the information will be used to paint a picture of the curriculum covered in specific year groups and the ways in which particular aspects of mathematics and science curricula are approached.

International dimensions Obviously there will be some comparison of the results from different countries in the international report: one area of particular interest will be comparisons of pupils' performance in different topics, such as (within number) representations of common fractions, relationships between fractions and decimal fractions. Given the current level of interest in the use of calculators within schools, students' performance on questions involving computation and estimation will also be interesting, since different countries have different approaches to the use of calculators in their own curricula. It is worth emphasising that during the first phase of TIMSS, which was concerned with developing the tests and questionnaires, each test item was reviewed by panels of subject experts in each country, taking into consideration factors such as:

was the subject matter covered in the national curriculum? was the question presented in a form that pupils would be used to? what proportion of the target age range could be expected to have covered the subject content? were the diagrams and illustrations clear and unambiguous?

This information was especially helpful to the inter- national committee convened to select the test items for the main study. The committee, which was made up of mathematics and science educators from a range of countries, was able to refer to two major sources of information concerning the suitability of each item:

the views of the subject expert review panels from each country statistical data concerning pupils' performance on the items during the field trials, which were carried out in spring 1994.

The tests' content The actual content of the tests is designed to cover a broad section of the maths and science curricula. Thinking specifically about the mathematics tests, they contain questions relating to aspects of work which pupils would be expected to cover during key stage 2 (for the nine year-olds) or key stage 3 (for the 13 year- olds). The mathematics content may be defined either within the national curriculum attainment targets' or the programmes of studyl, although the links are not stated since they only apply to the English national curriculum. The content of the questions falls within the curriculum framework for mathematics produced by the International Coordinating Centre for TIMSS (Robitaille, D.F. et al, 1993).2 The framework outlines the main aspects of the mathematics curriculum and serves two purposes:

it provides a means of analysing the curriculum of participating countries it provides a means of classifying the items used in the study.

Mathematics in School, November 1994

The major categories in the mathematics content framework are:

number measurement geometry: position, visualisation and shape geometry: symmetry, congruence and similarity proportionality functions, relations and equations data representation, probability and statistics elementary analysis validation and structure.

The tests are presented to pupils as booklets, one focusing on maths and one on science. Each booklet contains a mixture of multiple-choice items and open- response questions, which in some cases ask for a short written answer and in others require a simple drawing or diagram. In addition, a number of questions (more commonly for 13 year-olds) ask for an extended explanation of how the pupil would approach a particular problem: in the case of mathematics, this might mean identifying and carrying out the appro- priate steps to solve a given problem. An example of this would ask the pupil to give a rule for obtaining an approximate answer, such as describing when to round up and when to round down, then ask the pupil to calculate the answer, applying the rule described. In this type of question, the marking scheme is structured so that if a pupil describes the relevant strategies, but subsequently makes an error in the calculations, some credit is given for identifying and/or describing the necessary processes despite the fact that the final answer could be incorrect.

The value of TIMSS Teachers within schools that take part in TIMSS may find that their pupils' participation gives them useful information about students' knowledge and under- standing of particular aspects of the mathematics curriculum. When a small sample of secondary schools was surveyed recently to gain views on teachers' preferences regarding a number of alternative sam- pling strategies and the actual timing of the testing programme, several teachers commented that if the tests were administered during February/March 1995, they would serve as a rehearsal for Year 9 SATs, both in terms of testing pupils' knowledge and also as a practice of working to a timed test.

The TIMSS project provides an exciting opportunity to find out more about the teaching and learning of mathematics and science in English schools; the international dimension will enable us to see how our own national curriculum compares with the curricula of other countries in terms of the emphasis placed on different aspects of curriculum content and, for example, the extent to which students use calculators. The combination of a national focus together with international perspectives will provide a valuable analysis of current practice, which should be of interest to anyone involved in education.

Notes and References 1. Content of attainment targets and programmes of study as in Science

in the National Curriculum (1991). The 1991 orders will still be in use at the time of testing, in spring 1995.

2. Robitaille, D.F. et al (1993). Curriculum Frameworks for Mathematics and Science. TIMSS Monograph No. 1. Pacific Educational Press: Vancouver, Canada.

Enquiries about TIMSS should be addressed to Wendy Keys or Sue Harris at NFER.

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